Contour Fan Experts (Help)

[akarilo]

Swapped over to the Contour setup recently for increased cooling at idle and trail speeds. The fans provided that just fine, but while driving on the highway the factory gauge reaches 3/4. In contrast, the factory fan does just the opposite, idles at 3/4 (hot day) but on the highway it is steady at 1/4 (160* thermostat).

I've seen a post stating that the Contour fans cool 502's etc. The turbo setup does add additional "under hood heat", but I figure highway speeds should not be a prob. My only theory is that the shroud is restricting more "flow through" air than the stock one.

One fan comes on at start, and the other via/thermostat probe relay. Both fans utilize 30amp relays.

One more thing; I read a post about a low and high setup for the Contours. ??? I just spliced directly into the harnes and straight to the relays. WHAT UP???????

 

[CruisinFJ60]

if you just gave em a full 12volts then you should be at high speed. at 6 volts should be the low speed. but again since you just gave it a full 12 volts you should be on high and have nothing to worry about there.

oh are you running the fans of the freeway or shutting them down and letting the flow through air do all the work?
have you tried running the fans while on the freeway? what does it do when you do that?

 

[Downey]

Akarilo, I'm not familiar with the Contour fan set-up, but I am very familiar with cooling and mistakes people make with fan shrouds. If you could post photo of your set-up (showing fan/shroud relationship) I might be able to offer some advice. If you don't have a shroud issue, you could merely have the issue of not enough fan size (cfm) to create the gosh darn hurricane required to blow out your engine compartment at higher speeds.

 

[akarilo]

Here it is. Others have made this setup work.

 

[Wile E Coyote]

cfm rating for the contour/ taurus fan is waaay more than adequate for the mighty 3fe.
Here's a long shot, but can you confirm cw vs. ccw rotation of the fan(s)? Since, as you know, you can cause them to rotate 'backards' just by switching wire polarity.
I assume your turbo I/C is in front of the rad, and what about a trans oil cooler?

Edit: What kinda alt do you have feeding those hungry bastids?

 

[akarilo]

They are rotating in correct direction. Yes, the intercooler and Tranny cooler are in front, but I figure if the clutch fan can handle it, this setup should be able to as well.

Stock alt for now with the idle bumped up a bit. I can already tell that un upgrade wouldn't hurt though. Been looking into the 130amp Sequoia/Tundra unit. Projects projects, but I live for them.

 

[Moby]

I run a Delta Current Control controller on my Contour fan that varies the input voltage to the fans from 0-alternator output. I've also got a little LED that they sell that let's me monitor how hard the fan is working. The controller is set to run the fans as much or as little as it needs to in order to keep the engine temp at 192 degrees (I run a 180 tstat). Generally speaking this set up doesn't need to run the fans at more than half speed to maintain this.

Now my fans do run more than I originally expected on the highway however they still don't generally run more than half speed (usually less) unless I'm holding it in 3rd gear pulling a grade (even with A/C on). Often they don't run at all if it is cooler. Usually they run at ~20% in the summer occassionally bumping up to 50% and back down as the controller works to maintain 192 degrees.

My assumption on them needing to run at low speed on the highway is that yes, they probably do block a bit more air flow. Also the stock clutch will move some air even when the clutch isn't locked up and it's probably about the same as when my fans are running at 20%. I also now have more obstructions under the hood and I noticed that that did seem to affect how much the fans run to some degree.

I would either turn your fans on at a lower speed or get a variable speed controller such as the DCC or SPAL controllers.

Edit: Additional data - I also have a huge tranny cooler up front, a Ron Davis aluminum radiator (with built in tranny cooler) and a 175 amp NW Power Products alternator.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

oh are you running the fans of the freeway or shutting them down and letting the flow through air do all the work?
have you tried running the fans while on the freeway? what does it do when you do that?

same questions still...

 

[akarilo]

same questions still...

Second fan runs when a certain temp is reached. The other runs all the time.

 

[akarilo]

I run a Delta Current Control controller on my Contour fan that varies the input voltage to the fans from 0-alternator output. I've also got a little LED that they sell that let's me monitor how hard the fan is working. The controller is set to run the fans as much or as little as it needs to in order to keep the engine temp at 192 degrees (I run a 180 tstat). Generally speaking this set up doesn't need to run the fans at more than half speed to maintain this.

Now my fans do run more than I originally expected on the highway however they still don't generally run more than half speed (usually less) unless I'm holding it in 3rd gear pulling a grade (even with A/C on). Often they don't run at all if it is cooler. Usually they run at ~20% in the summer occassionally bumping up to 50% and back down as the controller works to maintain 192 degrees.

My assumption on them needing to run at low speed on the highway is that yes, they probably do block a bit more air flow. Also the stock clutch will move some air even when the clutch isn't locked up and it's probably about the same as when my fans are running at 20%. I also now have more obstructions under the hood and I noticed that that did seem to affect how much the fans run to some degree.

I would either turn your fans on at a lower speed or get a variable speed controller such as the DCC or SPAL controllers.

Edit: Additional data - I also have a huge tranny cooler up front, a Ron Davis aluminum radiator (with built in tranny cooler) and a 175 amp NW Power Products alternator.

Does this mean that a slower fan speed on the highway might actually flow more. I hate to invest in a controller if it's not going to pay off. Have you ever run yours at full current on the highway? If so, what were the results.